A bullet hits a sack next to a howitzer; a projectile explodes in the sky, forcing a plane to lurch to the right. In slow motion, a Red Army soldier lobs grenades into a Nazi tank. A modern rendition of a classic Soviet war song soundtracks the action.

This is a trailer for the War Thunder video game by Gaijin, and has collected nearly 4 million views on YouTube in just one month – yet another indicator of the increasing popularity of World War II video games in Russia.